I wanted to like this book so much!  It sounded like such interesting fun from the blurb and I enjoyed the James Rollins book I read earlier this year, so I was looking forward to another action-filled thriller with some cool religiously supernatural overtones.  Vampire priests!  Woot!

Ugh.

That's not what I got.

First off, the female lead, the heroine, Erin... well, she spent half her time hiding behind the big, strong, blond, soldier protector guy who could make her warm with just a faint touch in the midst of all the danger of the damned world.  Every time something remotely dangerous approached, there was the big dumb hero thrusting her behind him. 

Speaking of big dumb hero, his name was Jordan, which is fine.  Jordan is a unisex name.  The only problem with this is that Jordan is a name I have used in my own writing for years as a woman's name.  So that bugged me from beginning to end.  *LOL*  Most people probably won't have this problem though.

Overall, this book had a really sexist vibe to it. Not only was Jordan 'protecting' Erin every chance he got and not only were the both of them getting turned on by the slightest of things in the midst of great danger or focus, the whole plot of the book hinged on sex it seemed.  Now I know that vampires are supposed to be sexy and all, but neither author is very good at writing sexy to prove it for one thing - and for another it all read like the downfall of all the good and holy came at the hands of the woman and her seduction of the defenseless priest.

I also felt that some of the ideas were really good and could have been expounded upon more but the authors maybe didn't have the facility to go deeper?  I dunno... I felt they missed the mark on a lot of the historical stuff.  And there was A LOT of historical stuff in this book - maybe too much.  Masada, Christ's Life, Saint Peter, Hitler, Rasputin, the siege of St. Petersburg, medieval Hungary.... just so so so much and alot of it just glossed over. 

But of course we have the improbable love story of Erin and Jordan - oh, did I mention that I think the story takes place over 2 days - 3 max?   Yeah, well, the number of times that we were treated to adolescent reactions from both of these characters was really over the top. 

I could go on because so much of this book left me unsatisfied.  And in the end... well... we don't really get much closure at all.  Oh... Erin and Jordan like each other.  *RME*  I don't know that I'll pick up the second book in this series.  Maybe, but I doubt it.  I think I'll probably stick to Rollins' Sigma Force novels instead for ridiculous, crazy action thrillers. 

Great story....not so great writing. My suspicions are that Rollins provided the story and Cantrell did 98% of the writing, so what could have been a great book merely was something to pass the time. What worked: a quest to find a book written by Christ himself, the antagonists being a sect around for two thousand years bent on world destruction. What did not work: stale, plodding writing that turned potentially good characters and plot lines into almost a textbook. I will read the next one, but with much trepidation.

Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

This is a fictional historical archaeological adventure with biblical-related controversy  with monks and wolves and beasts involved. That are crazily connected together. Dr. Erin Granger was summoned while in work to explore a mummified girl discovered in a temple. Little did she know, she'll explore bigger things together with Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest, and Sergeant Jordan Stone. With the secrets of the Church was revealed to them, they'll try to fight and survive the blasts and shots of the enemies of the church, search towers and underground lakes, up to the very center of St. Peter's basilica to prevent the greatest destruction that may doom the earth.

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Oh hoh my God! I never expect the twisted end of the story but be prepared to be in awe if you happen to start reading this. Remember, it's just the first book in the series so better grasp every journey with the trio. With a little romance aside, which is such a tease, the revelations are all well kept and hidden in plain sight. You might get bored in the first few chapter. I got bored. I thought, 'hell, how is this nominated as one of the best books in Goodreads?' But then, this book proved me wrong during the last few chapters. It was like reading one of Robert Langdon's series with some paranormal creatures in it which makes the story more action-packed.

The two authors' writing were in-sync. I thought the book was written by only one, but these two heads were surprisingly made the book better. I am not that happy when a good book story idea was ruined by two different authors that were somehow planned because by a flick of a finger  they just thought they should write a book. I think it's hard to collaborate to someone in terms of writing. But this book is fortunately a good, well edited and researched one.

If you have a day or two available to be cozy and warm, you might want to start this book.

Favorite quote:

“He counted his steps. That was how you got through tough things. You counted. Once you said, "one," then you knew "two" was coming, and "three" right after that.” 

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thisgirlreading